Ner'zhul's war
by Flameseeker
Summary: Events half a year after TFT. Kael and the blood elves try to cope with their addiction. Ner'zhul prepares his invasion of Kalimdor. May later have JainaKael
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own any characters that aren't owned by someone else (gasp). I don't own Azeroth, I don't own squat besides the plot and my own characters and the new ideas.  
  
Author note: I am assuming that in the game each unit represents multiple soldiers. This takes place a few months after frozen throne  
  
Prologue  
  
Krylos Woodstrider gazed out over the western edge of Darkshore. The wood elf ranger was startled to see a small fleet of elven ships sailing towards the coast. The design was not night elf, wood elf, or dusk elf. The red insignia on the side was the symbol of the Lordaeron alliance. Perhaps the idiots back east finally realized that war is a lost cause, he thought. The ships landed a mile down the shore, but Krylos was a swift runner and reached them quickly.  
He stayed hidden in a ruin and watched them disembark. Krylos gasped as he saw Prince Kael'thas get off. A total of 1,000 elves assembled on the beach. Kael turned to a group of rangers. "Fan out and search for a place to set up camp" he ordered.  
Krylos drew a pair of long knives and jumped out. "Hold! What business do you have in Darkshore?"  
"What business do you have arguing with me?"  
"I am protecting elven lands and interest."  
"I am a fellow blood elf."  
"There are no blood elves in Kalimdor. The elves have split into the dusk elves, the wood elves, and night elves."  
"Have you no respect for your fallen brethren?"  
"We seek vengeance, just as you do. We deal it out without using the demon's magic"  
A look of anger crossed Kael face. "I should kill you for your insolence."  
"Enough elves died in the third war. Don't add your name to that list. Perhaps you can still seek redemption for your actions."  
"What would you have me do? My people's numbers are depleted. Our honor was gone when we left our allies fighting an undead horde in a desperate attempt to save us." The blood elf stopped his rant. "My people are doomed."  
"No they are not. Give up arcane magic and the other elven races will welcome you."  
"The magic withdrawal would kill us."  
"No, it won't. Kael, your people can overcome addiction just as the rest of us did. In only a few months of living near the moon wells Ashenvale the need for arcane power disappeared. If your people are truly unable to cast aside arcane magic, you may travel to Theramore Isle, where wizardry is still praticed by the survivors of Dalaran. Jaina is always ready to accept refugees from the east.  
"Jaina Proudmoore?"  
"Yes". The wood elf smile mentally as he remembered how much Kael loved Jaina, and how heart-broken he had been when she left him for Arthas. The story wasn't funny, but the elf prince's reaction was.  
"Where is Theramore?"  
"Sail south along the coast. I am not sure how long it will take you, but Theramore is a large island. Be careful to avoid any orcish ships. The just recently fought a war with Admiral Proudmoore of Kul Tiras, and will be suspicious of any with the Lordaeron Alliance symbol."  
  
Kael watched the wood elf standing on the shore, as he sailed off. Perhaps there was new hope for his people. Fifty elves had stayed with the ranger, more than willing to give up magic to lose the addiction and gain a, what they felt was a better lifestyle.  
  
Krylos stood staring out over the sea hours after the elven ships had left. He turned and left a short while later.  
  
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Yay, my first warcraft fic. Haven't decided wether or not to have Kael/Jaina. Unless someone is willing to offer advice, no because I suck at romance. One review to update. Constructive criticism is appreciated. 


	2. The Calm

Disclaimer: same as last. Some info gotten from warcraft d20 book.  
  
Sorry last chapter was so short Warp da warp liger, Ner'zhul shows up in this chapter to ease your suffering.  
  
Coke, chocolate, and popcorn heed my call. ____-----_____-----_____-_-_______-__--____---___- ___________________________  
  
Kael stood on the deck of his flagship, The Windrunner, named for the fallen ranger general of Quel'thalas. A geyser of water shot up just left of the ship. "Pirates!" yelled an elven mariner. He was right. Less than 600 yards off was a trio of ships, unmistakably goblin in design.  
  
"Damn it! How the hell did they get so close without being noticed? Men to your stations! Prepare to return fire!" Kael yelled.  
  
"My lord" the ship's captain said, "that was just a range finding shot. They won't miss this time."  
  
Kael shouted an arcane phrase, and a pillar of fire tore apart the trailing pirate ship. "I am out of spells. I used all of them speeding the fleet." A pair of ballistae bolts expertly disabled the leading ship's bow chaser and impaled several goblins. Another elven ship, The Memory, came up and exchanged broadsides with the second pirate. A volley of cannon balls slammed into the Windrunner's mast and almost toppled it. A full broadside answered, punching several large holes below the waterline. The goblin ship began to sink rapidly. Archers from the two elven ships picked off goblin crewmen on the remaining ship with ease. The pirates returned fire with various firearms until 19 enchanted ballistae shots slammed into the ship. Splinters rained down on the elves, injuring a fair number.  
  
"Captain, report."  
  
"11 dead, forty-nine wounded twenty-one of those severely."  
  
"How long to treat the wounded?"  
  
"Four days, if we continue sailing without encountering any hostile ships."  
  
___________________________----________________  
  
The fleet continued for several days without encountering anything. After a week of sailing, they found a chain of islands scattered with abandon troll villages. Maps which they had stolen from the goblins showed these were the echo islands, and that sea was patrolled by orcish ships. They ran the gauntlet without any encounters, but just barely. A  
  
large island loomed on the horizon. Theramore. ___---_______------___________________________________---------------------- ---------  
  
"Take ten with you. The rest stay on the ship" Said a human shore guard "leave your weapons here."  
The fortress of Theramore more was an attempt to recapture the former glory of Lordaeron. Graceful spires leapt into the sky, palatial housing lined the avenues, and it had a bustling market place filled with all sorts of races. The council house was beautifully constructed building, large enough to house the senate chamber, and rooms where leaders could meet in private. "Lady Proudmoore will see you now" an attendant told Kael.  
  
Kael stepped into the audience lounge, and spotted the beautiful human sorceress sitting in a large chair across the room. She was dressed in the garb of a wandering wizard. Jaina had never liked the fancy dresses most women of her station preferred. "Kael? I heard you we killed when Quel'thalas was destroyed."  
  
"I heard your expedition was destroyed crossing the Maelstrom. It's good to see you again Jaina."  
  
"What happened in Lordaeron?"  
  
"Arthas began a campaign of genocide of the remaining inhabitants. Grand Marshal Garithos leads the war to stop. Alliance forces retook Dalaran and waged a hopeless war against the scourge. Garithos has an extreme prejudice bent towards non-humans, and had sentenced me and my brethren to death when we allied with the naga to fight the scourge. Lady Vashj, the naga leader aided us in escaping to outland, the burnt ruins of the orc home world, Draenor. We joined forces with Illidan Stormrage , a night elf turned demon, to take control of Outland. Just as we conquered the Black Citadel the demon lord, Kil'jaeden arrived and ordered Illidan to kill Ner'zhul. Illidan's army sailed to Northrend to do this, only to be stopped by the undead scourge and Arthas. The death knight succeded in killing Illidan and merged with the Lich King and took control of the Frozen Throne. The Naga detained the undead and demanded that we leave to survive. My only idea to keep us alive was to sail to Kalimdor. A wood elf named Krylos Woodstrider pointed us toward Theramoore because he would not tolerate wizards in Ashenvale."  
  
"So you came here seeking the remnats of the Alliance?"  
  
"The Alliance and you." ---------------- ___________--------- =============++  
  
Kar Stoneax cursed in dwarvish as he spotted the large fast moving blot in the sky. "Harpies!" he shouted to the dwarves of Bael Modan.  
  
There was a scramble of diggers from the titan excavation site towards the weapon rack. Rifles and ammunition was distributed among the dwarves. A row of warriors with long rifles lined up on the outer wall of the fortress. A harpy spear impaled one dwarf before the winged hag was shot from the sky. Hundreds of harpies swooped down on the dwarven stronghold. A particularly large one dived towards Kar. He whipped out a pistol and blew its head off. Seizing a fallen dwarf's rifle he began taking shots.  
  
In the end, the harpies were easily repelled. Seventeen dwarves were dead, and eight wounded. Less than an hour later a caravan of dwarven traders came through the gates. "You boys got big problem. Undead are constructing a base and mustering forces. In less than a day you'll be attacked" their leader told Thorgas Bronzebeard, who was the King of Ironforge's nephew.  
  
"Where are you headed?"  
  
"Stayin' here."  
  
A dwarf lookout came running in. "A column of ghouls, maybe four thousand strong, with eight hundred crypt fiend and fifty-five gargoyles are less than two hours away."  
  
"No frost wyrms, abominations, or necromancers?"  
  
"They got none of any of those."  
  
"This is just a force to test our defenses." Thorgas said. "Put fifty riflemen to cover the wall atop the gate with some mortar crews. Get the gyrocopters and gryphon riders airborne. Put some snipers along the inner wall."  
  
A huge storm brewed up, an incredibly rare phenomenon in the dry wastelands of the barrens. The undead took their time forming up to attack, so it was nearly pitch black when the assault began. Gargoyles carried ghouls over the wall and dropped them behind the garrison. Kar and 100 odd soldiers spent the early half of the battle dashing back and forth hacking up undead soldiers.  
  
As the undead forces dwindled, more began to pull back. The dwarves had lost only fifty soldiers, compared to the two thousand undead, and all of the gargoyles. Thorgas sent a scout to see how many troops the undead had left. He came up with 12 thousand ghouls, 500 abominations, and 800 crypt fiends.  
  
"We'll need more troops to hold, but not much more. The question is how are we gonna get em up the mountain?"  
  
"Goblins maybe. We could hire a few of their zepplins."  
  
Over the next week frantic preparations were made for the coming siege. One thousand more dwarves arrived, swelling the garrison to slightly over 5,000 men.  
  
____----_______-----_______--_-_----____-----_-_-_---------___--_____--__-- __-_-_-__-_  
  
Krylos Woodstrider silently cursed as a dozen furbolgs ran towards the he and the fifty blood elves. They were all warriors and took the initiative to launch a swarm of arrows. Five furbolgs dropped but the rest kept right on rolling. Krylos and several others pulled swords and met the bear men head on while archers kept pounding. Krylos slashed open a furred throat to be sprayed with black blood. "Corruption" the wood elf muttered. The furbolgs were easily defeated and only one elf was killed, but Krylos was deeply disturbed. All the feral furbolgs from felwood were killed during the legion's invasion. What caused this?  
  
Krylos left the blood elves with a dusk elf sentinel they encountered a few minutes later. The dusk elf gave him a fresh quiver of arrows before Krylos set out for the area of corruption know as Felwood.  
  
What he encountered there was not good. Hiding in the upper boughs of a dead tree he listened to a human and an orc talking. Both had glowing red eyes. "The rest of the Shadow Council will want to know how we are coming along. It won't be long before we get the Titan spellblade at Nordrassil's roots" the orc said. Shadow Council? Orgim Doomhammer disbanded that.  
  
The wood elf dropped from the tree while shooting his longbow at the orc. What should have sunk in deeply barely broke the skin of the orc's torso. "Go" the orc said, "I can handle this annoyance." The human ran off, leaving the elf and the orc facing off with draw weapons. Krylos charged. A sizzling bolt of energy shot from the tip of the orc's battleaxe and struck the elf and knocked him back into a tree. The last thing he saw before the world faded into blackness was the orc laugh, and then leave. ________________________________________________________________________  
Far off, on Icecrown ,one dark soul plotted, and waited for the time, when the world was weakest. If he grew too powerful, a dragonflight would muster against him. That must not happen. There was also the matter of the Forsaken, and what was left of the scourge in Lodaeron. He would wait, and he would watch. For the Lich King's reign of death, was soon to come. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
hiya people. Will the dwarves survive another attack? Is Krylos still alive? Will I ever shut up? I can answer the last one: no. Reviewers Jackal: that you for your support. You are the third person ever to review one fics *sniffle* Warp da Warp Liger: copy paste above 


	3. Spellblade

This chapter is going to be short. End of semester exams.  
  
Krylos awoke, groaning. It took a few moments for a clear thought to enter his head. Suddenly he remembered what the orc had said about a spellblade at the World Tree's roots. The opposite of a runeblade, a spellblade was an incredibly powerful magic weapon, usually a great sword. The wood elf took a quick inventory of his weapons. He had his long knives, his longbow, and four intact arrows. His sword was broken. He set off running as fast as he could to Mt. Hyjal.  
  
The Shadow Council was clearly expecting him. Several orcs and humans, all with the glowing red eyes of the two he had seen earlier waited along the path. He defeated them with only a few wounds, none major. By the time he the base of Hyjal he had one arrow and one long knife. Not much to fight an orc of super strength, he thought, but it will work. It has to.  
  
The orc was preparing to pull the blade from the flame encircled pedestal when Krylos ran into the root-cave with his last arrow nocked. The shadow councilor had a pair of guards with him, barring the elf's way. The orc read the inscription of the pedestal aloud. "This blade burns darkness, as a warrior fells death. Who ever would draw this blade shall inherit that power and burden." "In a moment it will burn light, not darkness. It has the power to summon the legion once again to consume this world."  
  
"Over my dead body!"  
  
"We can arrange that."  
  
Krylos bent his bow back so far that the wood started snapping. His final arrow pierce the dark orc's chest and came out the other side. On an impulse he charged forth, shoving his knife into one guard's throat and pushing aside the other. Lunging past the wounded councilor he seized the spellblade from the stone pedestal. The orc leader pulled the arrow from his stomach, and laughed.  
  
"Have you the will, the skill, the power to wield such a weapon? There are few who do" he said.  
  
Krylos swung the great sword in wide arc slicing off the orc's head. Only a charred neck stump remained. The last guard fled.  
  
The elf was pulling his knife the guard's corpse when a voice sounded inside his head. Well done, young Krylos. You are truly skilled.  
  
"Who are you?!"  
  
I am a titan. The sword you carry is a conduit to Azeroth. My name is Maest'hir, and the sword is Liy'tek (A/n Pronunced lee tek). It was forged to counter the powers of blades such as Frostmourne. It is the only weapon in Azeroth that can slay Ner'zhul's mortal shell, aside from his own blade. By drawing Liy'tek you have sworn to fight an eventually slay the Lich King. You have a long time to do so. The wielder of this sword will not die of age. Illidan lay at the foot of Icecrown, in a death-like coma. His dying spirit heard a voice.  
  
Arise Illidan Stormrage. Stand to do battle with the Burning Legion once again. Your world, your home still needs you. Cast off the cursed shell that houses your spirit. Be the doom of the one who enslaved you.  
  
Illidan awoke surrounded by trees, feeling shorter.  
  
Ner'zhul watched Krylos from afar. "We must watch. We must wait. Impetuousness will only be our doom." He turned to a nearby death knight. "Gather my armies. We march to war!"  
  
Yeah short, I know. Reviews:Jackal2332: Thanks. Knowing someone likes this is reassuring. Darth: I updated this partially for you. Admiral Proudmoore was the leader of the humans that were attacking the orcs in Frozen Throne. Peter Kim: Yeah. That's what the peple say. Im still pretty sure he croaked. But we may have a Illidan vs Kil'jaeden scene. Or I may kill him off right away. 


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